The Restoring of the Great Garden of Pitmedden

The 1950's saw the beginnings of garden history as a serious discipline in its own right and upon acquisition, the Trust embarked on a remarkable pioneering project - to "restore" the original 17th century Great Garden of the Setons. To achieve this, Dr James Richardson - Inspector of Ancient Monuments at the Ministry of Works (now Historic Scotland) - was appointed to masterrnind the transformation from post-War market garden back to 17th century formality. Not without considerable local opposition to the change but with the blessing of Major Keith, the Head Gardener, George Barron and his staff set about the enormous task of clearing the three acre lower garden.

Hopes of finding traces of the original 17th century design faded as the much cultivated garden gave nothing away to reveal its past. With the original plans presumed lost in the 1818 fire, Dr Richardson turned for inspiration to the remarkable 1647 bird's eye view of the City of Edinburgh as drawn by James Gordon of Rothiemay, Banffshire. Four geometric parterres on the grand scale were designed. Three contained elements from the garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse; the fourth, designed by Dr Richardson as a tribute to the Seton family, is based on the family Coat of Arms. The four parterres were painstakingly measured and marked out in sand, then planted up using over three miles of boxwood hedging - a slow process which took several years to complete.

Being mindful of the need to provide sufficient interest throughout an extended visitor season, it was decided to use densely planted annual bedding plants within the main parterres and retain the existing herbaceous borders to add extra summer interest. Neither of these features could possibly be considered 17th century, but no one could deny the breathtaking impact of looking down from the upper garden onto a riot of organised colour below. Currently over 80 varieties of trained apple trees adorn the walls, providing fragrant blossom in spring and producing a healthy crop of fruit in late summer. Yew obelisks and buttresses punctuate the lawn and three fountains provide the constant presence of water essential for any summer garden. A herb garden and rose border give interest and colour to the upper garden and two rows of pleached limes provide the framework for the two newly created parterres which trace the development of parterre gardens from early times when only coloured stones and herbs were used.